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Hulu has canceled The Great after three seasons. Why would the streamer opt to do that when the show was so amazing?

There is no doubt that we want more of The Great. The bad news is, the historical fiction comedy is not back for a fourth season. Hulu has opted to cancel the show.

Of course, now fans want to know why. Is this something that’s happened due to the strike, or is there another reason behind it? Maybe it’s a decision from the creators. We take a look at the announcement of the cancellation to make sense of the decision.

Why Hulu canceled The Great

The bad news is that Hulu didn’t say why the show was canceled. It’s clear that it is not a creative decision, so this is something to do with the streaming platform. So, why would Hulu do this?

The likely reason is viewership. People need to keep watching a show. The downside of streaming shows is that the marketing isn’t great for them. A lot of seasons are dropped without anyone realizing it. In fact, there are times when new shows are dropped and then abruptly canceled because there were no marketing efforts at all.

The Great Season 3 didn’t have the best promotional push. It wouldn’t be surprising if fans just didn’t realize it was back. It also doesn’t help that Hulu isn’t international. While a lot of Hulu Originals now go to Disney+ internationally, that wasn’t the case in the past. This leads to licensing costs to deal with.

Then there’s the fact that a major cast change was coming. Just like in history, Peter III was killed off. A show that kills off its lead male after three seasons is going to struggle to keep some of the same feelings and the fan base. As much as we would love to see Catherine’s story after Peter’s death, it just might not work as well for TV. Just look at how Francis’s death in Reign changed the whole feeling of the series.

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The Great* is available to buy on Amazon Video.